Our customers are so creative! Thanks to Diata W. of Philadelphia who recently bought a woman's nagajuban from us at a venue. While she was shopping in our booth she told us of her love of kimonos and that she had even made one herself. As we so often  do, we asked her to send a picture. We frequently ask show customers to send us pictures of their creative uses of vintage  kimonos and fabrics (both ours or even those bought elsewhere); we did the same with Diata, but unlike most others who forget, she just sent us a picture...

We have been following --and have posted a couple things on our blog about-- the topic of 'cultural appropriation' as far as non-Japanese wearing kimono goes (search 'reddit' in our site search to see all relevant posts on this topic  from our blog). Our interest in this topic was piqued by a Reddit post last fall when there were protests at a kimono exhibit in Boston. This blog, kimonocontemplation fits nicely into that topic of conversation. Surely of interest to our Kitsuke followers. We have been following this blog for about a year. While the author does not post often,...

Map of Japan (Japan-Guide.com)    (Pictures: Japan-Guide.com 2016) YokoDana Kimono's WEB SITE REVIEW: www.Japan-Guide.com We first learned of Japan-Guide.com some years ago when we joined their mail list. Over the years since 1997 they have evolved into a top quality modern web site with great visuals and easy to navigate layout. It is chock full of relevant and timely information and is kept current with considerable traffic and use of the site. Japan-Guide.com is intended for multiple audiences: First, travelers (especially useful for planning a trip to Japan), Second, Non-Japanese residents in Japan and Third, people seeking current information on Japan....

Above: "Japan Blue", from article on web-japan.org, full article HERE. From time to time we visit several of the high quality Japanese portal sites (links found on our links resource page here) which serve as great sources for learning not only traditional things,but also to inform us of recent developments in Japan. Web-Japan.org is one we often use.  We came across their 'Trends and Fashion' section and an article (with a lot of nice pics) on the subject of  Japan Blue (Indigo) caught our eye. It has good info on how the indigo is used in traditional Japanese crafts and art,...

This past week-end at a venue one of our customers told us the interesting story of a man she had met who had collected a very large number of antique and vintage Japanese wedding kimonos(called uchikake),Japanese costumes, obi and kesa (monks robes) . We looked it up and the story is a fascinating one: From his website: Spanning 250 years of Japanese history, the Alexander Collection includes more than one thousand pieces of one of a kind, hand-made textiles comprised of: kimono, obi, theatrical costumes and kesa from the Edo, Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods. The vast collection is unmatched in...